Starbucks at Shimoda Mall

Ever since we moved to Misawa Japan, One of the best changes that we've seen is inception of two new Starbucks. One was about two years ago in Hachinohe. We thought It is much more conveniently located right by the main road. We didn't have to drive all the way down to the City Hospital which adds about 15 minutes of our trip for the taste of Washington.

Now we have a new Starbucks at Shimoda Mall which enabled us to cut the trip to Hahcinohe for a cup of coffee. We expected the second Starbucks to be busy however, we didn't really expect that we have to wait in the line outside of the sliding door to receive the ordered coffee.

We learned the fact that we have to stand the line to order then stand another line to receive the order. We have to very savvy about finding the right line that leads us to order first. Due to the high volume of the customers, baristas are often confused about the menu that customers wished to receive, so it is important to keep the receipt until we safely earned a right kind of coffee. also, We learned two very important Japanese terms related to the cup of coffee.

For my husband who can't drink hot coffee, here is a term refers "WARM" - NURUME
For myself who are willing to take a risk to burn a mouth for a hot hot coffee, here is a term refers "HOT" - ASTUME

How to order from H&M Japan

I have been ordering my clothes from H&M U.S.A while I am in Japan. They fulfill orders to Japan but It takes about a month and half from shipping to receiving packages. If you're ordering any items to wear under the current weather, It could be next year when you finally get to wear what you ordered. I sometimes even forget that I have shipment coming from H&M because it is just such a long time to remember those details.

I realized that the items are pretty much same price or lower (due to strong dollar rate per yen). H&M Japan also does blow out sales and their sizing is the same as H&M U.S.A. I highly recommend you to use "Google Chrome" which provides auto translation from Japanese to English. The only problem is that you might have to go through all of the clothing items as the items are not searchable by English. Some of their items are in English, especially jeans are often named in English. For example, I like to wear low waist jeans, so I look up "low" or search bar and It results all the low waist jeans. however, their items are pretty manageable so I don't think there will be any problems looking up the items that you wish to purchase.

Payment options include credit card or pay at the delivery. I often choose pay at the delivery option and prepare exact amount of payment before the items are delivered.  It takes me only two days for my package to be delivered at the door! (Japan postal services and delivery services work on Saturdays and Sundays.)

Street gundam

My husband and I took a non toll road to go to Hachinohe several times. this is Gundam that we saw on our way to Hachinohe. I am not sure if it is personal property or public ones but make sure to check out this cool stuff on the non toll road to Hachinohe.

A fruit store in Misawa JP

My awesome neighbor let us know the awesome fruit store around the base. We used to get apple at bx (cost about 5 dollars with appx 5 apples) or sometimes at Uniiverse. the price stays same wherever we got the apples. I was wondering why fruits are so much expensive even though Amorori area is known for producing apples. Lots of people recommended us 9 th market at veedols park (right next to the grocery store that has Daiso). the fruit store we were infomed is right before the train rail sells a box of apple for $20 ( prox 40 apples). 

First, drive to Max value, when you get to max value on the left side you come into the intersection, keep straight instead of take right turn to go to the base. when you drive about 5 min at super small laned road, you will see the fruit store on the left side right before the train cross. the owner doesn't mind people parking right in front of the store for the quick drop by. There is designated parking space on the back of the store so if a person plans to spend longer time at the shop, it is recommended to pack on the back side of the store. the way to get to the parking log is on the right side of the stop (super small space to get in). we boguth appx 40 apples for 1900 yen. there are different apples for the different flavors. (sour, sweet, bitter... etc). the shop owner said the price for the apples will be up next week since the apple season is almost over. the shop has many selections of fruits and vegetables so I recommend to shop at her store. she let us try all of the apples so that we can pick the right flavor of the apples. 

Iphone 6 in Japan - AU

Getting a contract with au,KDDI in Japan, I researched and learned about phone contact here in Japan  . I would like to share the information I have learned with whoever coming over to Japan. Like I mentioned previous post, I used the rental phone at au last year and actually thought about getting retal phone for the period time being in Japan since my experience of using rental filp phone wasn't that bad. the only problem using rental phone is probably that I don't get a data on the phone so I can reduce the texting and phone when I make a phone call or send a text to the other phone company holder such as Softbank and Docomo. It usually charged 43 yen (appox 43 cent) per minute when making a phone call is pretty ridiculous so getting a smart phone is actually reduces the phone bill (set a side the price for the phone). I found it is possible to navigate with the cordination of the location through either google navigation app or any navigation app that is available on the phone with the data that is provided by the phone company. the only problem would be that it is pretty hard to find the exact place and the naviation application might give a person the wrong place or a long list of the places in Japanses. so It is pretty important to know the exact cordination or the address (in japanese) before putting down the store name in English. Getting a smart phone with data makes life in overseas easy even in Misawa pretty small town in Japan.

Not like phone contract in the states, the phone contract in Japan is pretty simple. no matter what contract a person gets, the prices is pretty much set for $70 - $ 80 range. there is no such unlimited text, but there is unlimited phone call and data is pretty much unlimited in any options in the case of the contact at au. au advertised the price of the iphone becomes 0 yen when a person gets the 2-year contract with them. that was true about the 0 yen for a phone. the way at au on base povides little different option that is not like what is provided off base since people on base come and go often. au provides the option to pay the price for the phone 100% at one time and get the discounted price for the contract. without paying the price for the phone 100% upfront, a person end up payng double for the monthly fee. we choose to pay upfront since the yen conversion rate is okay right at the moment and we didn't want to think a lot about paying the price for the phone over time. the discount for the monthly fee is given only for 2 years so after 2 years of the contract, the monthly fee becomes double (about $70) then what a person has to pay after the phone price for 2 years. ($ 44 - iphone 6, 64G). the monthly contract is provided as 2 different ways, 1. 7gb data (LTE) and pay for the phone calls, and text that is made to different phone company or land line 2. chose the data that how much a person likes to have fast data and unlimited phone call to any phone companies or land line. I chose 2gb data and unlimited phone call since the price for making phoe call is pretty expensive here. WIFI is available at most of the areas on base so I thought that is a better contract for me. It is not like the data is limited to 2gb but the speed gets slower after 2 gb of usage. I don't play online games or watch videos when I am outside, therefore the 2gb speedy data and unlimited slow data is no big deal. when you getting a same contract what I have got, make sure to mention their campaign on new iphone. au is giving 1gb on the top of the data plan that a person has so i am actually receiving 3gb (2gb paid, 1gb for free) under the plan which helps to experience better internet service just in case.

I am not sure about Softbank. what I have heard about softbank is the receiption rate is pretty bad. the only good thing about softbank is a person can use unlocked phone which can be taken into any country and use most out of it. the phone that comes with softbank is not unlocked phone so it can't be use anywhere but Japan but there is a way to unlock the Softbank phone with somekind of special code that is sold in Ebay. Docomo provides the option that a person unloock the phone after the contract is over with few thousands yen. 

yen rate is depreciated with the Japanses government's new ecomony boost plan next year. the yen conversion rate is 112yen per 1 dollar which saved us almost $100 overall purchase of the Iphone. even though the currency rate helped us, I am pretty disapointed about how simplified the phone plan so the customers always loose this phone contract with the big company. I hope condition gets better for future so the Japanses phone company don't charge the customers so much and let us use unlocked phone from the states freely.

Get the phone in Japan @ Misawa AB

I can say it has been most stressful thing that I faced since I got to misawa is getting the phone and chose the phone currier here in Misawa. I have been researched through other people's experience and Japanese phone curriers websites. Even though we are PCSed last yest May, I didn't get a decent phone in Japan and I was not on 2-year contract. I used the rental phone that costed me about 3500yen per month.  I was scheduled to back to the states to finish up my Master's degree. Now I am back to misawa joining with my husnand and slowly setting up my life and career which means I need to get a phone to contact with people in local area. I actually maintained T-mobile phone which I used to use in the states. There has been no problem keeping a contact with hospital even here in Misawa or in Osan (Korea). I have been enjoyed free 'Global coverage' provided by T-mobile. I am paying only $10 for unlimited talk, call, and even data. I say the speed of data (supposely 3G) that I have experienced in Korea (at most of the city area) was faster then the speed of data (4G) in the states. I don't get the great speed of data in Japan but I still am able to listen to Spotify on base when I am out about, and able to talk through any type of messenger as well. I was planning to getting rid of T-mobile contract as soon as I get the any type of phone in Japan.

My choice was heading toward to I phone 6. After I hear that the Apple Japan is selling unlocked I phone I was very excited to get the contract free phone so I can take it with me back to the states. We're here only for couple of years and any smart phone that I have been used so far seemed working pretty decent after few years of heavy daily use. I wished to take it with me and use it like I kept my Galaxy s3 for so long. My dream has been crushed after facing few reality about the cell phone contract here in Japan.

I found out each companies provide the heavy discount on the smart phone contract. the heavy discount on the phone price (not even for the monthly fee) is applied. I phone is the most favorable phone in Japan so the companies are mostly likely to respond the popularity of the phone by providing the discount to the people to bring more subscribers on each phone companies. I have not researched deeply about getting the Soft bank since My husband is already on the 2-year contract with AU. Being on the same phone currier gives the privilege to have free text and phone. Therefore changing the phone service company for myself doesn't give us much of benefit at this moment. Sending the text to the different company costs about 45 cent which is ridiculously expensive. I can't even imagine how much I will have to pay for the text/call per month with that 45 cent text or call.

Softbank and NTT docomo allows people to use unlocked phone. The problem of using own phone occurs due to the heavy discount that is given to newly released I phone. the customer representative at Soft bank on base said it costs about 9000 yen to start the contract with then with unlocked phone but costs 8000 yen with their phone (with the price of the phone). So the people whoever wants to use I phone 6 in Japan is paying the price for the phone that is purchased from Apple store and monthly fee for use the smart phone in Japan. when people chose to purchase the phone at Soft Bank, actually not only don't have to buy the unlocked phone but also do receive the 1000 yen discount of the monthly fee. Soft bank has not been my option cause they charge way to much even with ridiculous monthly fee. their data coverage isn't that good which everyone knows that it is almost impossible to receive full coverage even on base.

Au KDDI was another option that is available on base. As far I found 2 Au stores around Misawa. one is located near McDonald (across from 100 shop) and another one is located little out toward highway to Hachinohe. I seriously thought about dropping by any different stores not on base but that doesn't mean anything cause those stores are actually deeply connected to each other. the one near the 100 yen shop dispatch their workers to on base and the workers travel between those 2 shops. I am not really sure about the one near pachinko but I don't see the valid reason why I should go there and make some kind of awkward moment. the reason why I consider to go off base is because of the price differences between the tables that was shown at the base Au and the price I saw online Au website.

Au, not like Softbank and docomo, use different system to communicate and that also use different SIM card. Au phone, even after the 2 year contract, becomes useless since it is not compatible with any communicate system in any country. also Au phone (just like any other Japanese phone) tide up on the country lock and sim lock which is impossible to use as a phone at different counties other them solely MP3 player. the base representative showed use the table which comes with 7gb data but nothing else. that costs us about 8000yen (4500 yen ; monthly fee, 3500 yen ; the price for I phone). the other option is we pay off the I phone up front which is about $900 (64gb) then pay solely monthly fee that is 4500yen.

I searched up the website and found this price simulation.

http://www.au.kddi.com/iphone/ryokin/charges-simulator.html

I could see how much discount toward the phone I get for I phone and actually have are providing the campaign to increase the 1gb data more whatever data I select for the phone service rather then just chose 7gb data every month.

http://www.au.kddi.com/iphone/campaign/iphone-data-extra.html?bid=we-ipo-2014-0025

So I found out that any Iphone 6 as with 16gb capacity becomes 0 yen with 2 year contract. there are 2 options for the 2 year contract with au. the first one is with unlimited talk to any other phone currier in Japan. 3 gb data (It becomes 4gb with campaign) and 64gb Iphone 6 costs 8316 yen a month and it comes with unlimited talk. the other option is paying the flat fee for the data and it costs each data the person use per month. I am not sure if that plan provides any free data cause LTE fee costs about 5700 yen, it might provide some or not. so choosing the second plan costs about 5000 yen and that doesn't provide any free call to different companies' phone other then Au.

My question is base really giving up the huge discount since the price is set for 7gb data. or we're just manipulated by Au due to we're foreigners in this county. (not providing any discount toward the price for the phone itself. so if i assume that I am using 2 year contract with au and pay upfront phone price then I should pay $900 (the upfront) then $45 (4300 yen about becomes $45) *24 = $1080, totaling $1,980 or $85 (8000yen per month without the upfront free) *24 = $2040.

the price when using the price plan advertised on the website is $88 (8316yen) *24 = $2112 (with unlimited talk and 5gb data without paying upfront fee) or $55 (5000 yen ) *24 = $1320 (without unlimited talk but LTE service on data). so I am going to try to get the last option and will see how much data they are going to provide with 2-year contract. I was mad to find out AU applies different charge or didn't even mention the campaign that currently on with Iphone contract. I made the reservation for the Iphone at Au and scheduled to receive and sign up the contract on this Saturday. I will update how the things go after getting the contract with Au.

No moivie theater until July 2014

Can't you believe there's no more movie theater in Misawa until July 2014?

It is the only one entertainment or place to go in Misawa to see movie that spoken English. It usually take couple months more to see recent movie in Japan and price for the ticket at local theater is about $18, not 3D or IMAX). Now the theater is gone until July.. It is very disappointed since winter is very very slow here. We literally have nothing to do.

Living in north tower

winter made so many things different about living in Japan. It snows pretty much everyday here in Misawa. Everyday.. the amount of snow is massive so It comes to few inches easily on the top of the car in few minutes. I can't recognize where is the line around the car in the parking lot since it is hard to plow the snow when the car is parked. shoveling doesn't come to north side until the main base job is done. Since north sides is not the priority of plowing, they take care of the snow at 4am - 5am. I am living in the tower that faces on two parking lots. I know when it snows and how much by the snound of the shoveling the parking lot. I am very sensitive to sounds and lights so I wake up pretty much 4am or 5am and move the room to sleep more. It is quite annoying. H style house is required to shovel by residences so I guess there is a good things and bad thing about living in tower and H style house.

North side is colder than the main base. it can be very dangerous when driving to main base from north side. but it is definitely quite place, can't find anyone is walking around at all. (Not just because of the winter weather) It's like dead city here. If you're fond of living in quite place and don't mind drive 10 min to go wherever, I recommend living in North side. But If you're close to people and live to go to the places relatively easier (as a spouse, it might have to use one vehicle with your husband) then definitely main base is the answer.

nebuta festival aomori japan_1

My husband and I went to Aomori on Saturday last week. This festival last for few days. This is good event for the local to be participated from the very young children to the senior members. Anyone can participated, one of my husband's co-worker suggested us to participated next year. what you're going to do at the festival is dancing with locals and enjoy in the crowd of marching people. 

Aomori is one and half hour away from Misawa AB. Be aware there will be so many people when you're out of the festival which makes hard for us to get out of Aomori. We took 30 minutes to move 4 km which is little over then 2 miles. For the people who live in base housing, curfew might be the thing that you consider to go to here. 

Festival was very fun and great opportunity to experience Culture of Japan.

Ninja shoes. Japanese lady kindly allowed me to take the picture of her shoes.

We got to Aomorori around 4pm and they were preparing for the event.

this is what we saw at the festival. This beautiful thing is glaring at night, and making the picture looks very cool. the local Japanese people pull this only with man power. pretty impressive. 

How to connect Wifi at misawa ab library

This is the way to connect to wifi in misawa AB. I could connect to wifi from my phone or ipad without having any problems (just choose 'LIBRARY' and put a password 'library123456'. somehow, the system on the computer kept saying that I need to know the ID.  the library desk gave me a book that I can use to access the library. the library has fantastic broadband and connection compare to the internet we're paying for.  I wonder what makes the differences between those internet. 

Misawa Tanabata Festival _ 2013

Tanabata (七夕?, meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival.[1] It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.

check for more info about Tanabata at HERE

It has a story about this day in korea, The day is called as'chil suk' which means 7th of July. There's a couple in somewhere in sky. their name is 'gyungwoo' and 'jikyeo'. They are in love with each other and want to meet but somehow they can't. there's only a day allowed for them to meet. that's 7th of July. the crows make a bridge for them to step on so they can meet in the middle point. It always rains on that day because they cry for happiness after they meet each other. People consider the rain early in the morning as cry for another separation for a year.

So this is a picture that I found from Japan Guide webside,
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2283.html

It rained so much in misawa for 3 days while it had festival. Though there were not very many people walking around the town, It was fun to have something to do in misawa on weekends. My husband and I went down to the main gate area and checked what they have around here. 

bones stuck on sausages

kimchi something

chocolate on bananas

super fried sweet potatoes

one way street to max value, they covered top part due to heavy rain

Hachinohe Aquarium, Marine Science hall (Mariento)

this place is near the port of hachinohe and fishing place. It was hard to find the place at first, it was shown the straight road to here on the map, we found out this is not the straight place so needed to make few wrong trips to here.

Direction

1. Take a hahcinohe express toll road. ( to get to the hachinohe toll road, take the main fate or POL gate. If you take POL gate, go straight to universe and homac. Keep going straight and follow the sign of Hachinohe express lane. There will be a small bridge and the toll gate is right before the bridge.)

2. Exit at Hachinohe North (Hachinohe KITA) and make a right turn to be at the route 45

3. Take a left turn at the big transaction (follow the sign of central hachinohe or port of hachinohe, don't take the way to NANGO)

4. If you are on the right way, you will be on the route 1, when you see the route 1 keep go straight to port of hachinohe, at the end of route 1 make a right turn. there will be a gas station on your left. 

5. keep going straight untill the almost the end of the street, and make a right turn when you see the big building written on the black Japanese Kangi (super complected words) and keep going straight until you see the blue building written on Japanese words (Mariento) 

*If you're lost, Ask where is the Mariento. Everyone will know what mariento is but won't know Hachinohe Aquarium..

This small aquarium cost 300 yen per adult. It has cool looking fishes and some more but kind of disappointing place if you imagine of okinawa aquarium.. It's like a small fish tank at somebody's house. The ocean was pretty cool and great trip to see the other side of hachinohe.

Toll fare was 350 yen to hachinohe. make sure that you get off at the right exit there won't be any exit for a while after hachinohe central or kita.

Space A travel - Osan AB to Misawa AB

  I'm back to misawa ab this morning. As I mentioned at the post earlier, Roll call for space A to misawa was 0900 today morning. (Every Tuesday) I got to passenger terminal at 0830 then I checked at the desk as present. though the roll call was at 0900, I couldn't find my name on the screen on the far left side. I was nervous about not catching on the space A because my husband is supposed to come back from the states next Monday and my mom will be coming to Japan on the next day. The next Space A to Misawa AB is in a week, I was getting nervous. I asked the military lady on the desk, what I heard from her was 'Stand by, We'll have more roll call on the screen in a minutes' I waited about 15 minutes, then I finally could see my name on the list.

  I checked my baggage in then got the boarding pass. My seat was 4D which was equivalent to business seat (kind of) on the commercial flight. there was almost 70 seats open for misawa, but only 1 seat open for Seattle. there was so many people waiting to get on the plane for their pcs to the states.

  Not like the Space A from misawa, the space A took off very soon after I moved to waiting room. I got on the flight and I arrived in misawa around 1pm. I picked up the baggage and wrote the custom then finally got in misawa.

  If you need a taxi, this is a dial you can make from your cell phone.

   017 666 5438

Hop to Osan AB - Military space A travel (2)

  At Osan, several military people got on the airplane and explained about customs and things that is going to happen to people who is PCSing to Korea. Lots of army people needed to hop on the bus to go to wherever they're going to work for few years. I remembered when I PCSed to Japan a month ago. People there would feel the same way that I did before and I understood how tired they are right before finishing their long trip of PCS.

  Everyone who was on the airplane went to the conference room to write down customs paper and entrance paper as a foreigner in Korea. After writing down the paper, I went through customs in Korea then I needed to find my baggage that I send from MIsawa. It was absolutely chaotic because there were tons of same colored and same sized bags turning around of 3 conveyor belt. also, many bags were already out from the belt and displayed on the floor near conveyor belt. I kept moving around and finally found twp bags that I send from misawa.

  After all of these process, I finally could be in the terminal at osan AB. I registered my name at the customer desk to go back to misawa in 2 weeks. the hop to go back to misawa is at 0900on Tuesdays.

Hop to Osan AB - Military space A travel (1)

  I arrived in Korea (Osan AB) this Monday. I am here to take GMAT test (Graduate school entrance exam) in Seoul. the reason why I came here is it's much cheaper to come to Korea than go to Tokyo. I heard sinkansen trip to tokyo cost $300 but coming to Korea cost none (set aside a cost of going to Seoul). I have a family in Korea, so I don't have to pay for hotel either. I decided to come to Korea. Finally I finished testing today.

  

  As a spouses of active duty in military, a person needs a document to be selected to get on the hop to osan. It's called 'unaccompanied space a travel, CAT 5 document'. IIt needs a sign by commander so you have to go to wherever your husband's commander is at. the secretary wrote down my information including social security number at the office and send it to first sergeant and then went up to commander to get the signature. They also need passport number so it's good to have a passport with you when you go to get the signature. I happen to take a picture of passport number on my phone so I saved time to go to home then come back to the office. 

  After obtained the completed document, I went to the passenger terminal to register my name before the trip. registering can be done on the day of traveling. To raise the possibility of getting on the hop, I needed to go there few days before the travel day. On a travel day, which was on Monday 11:15am, I showed up at the passenger terminal and checked in. the list of the name who checked in was posted little later on the green board above the trash can. Then the worker started to call names as a order of categorized on the list. since I am at category 5 (none active duty but a family of active duty, travel alone), my name was called almost the very end of calling process. when they called my name I brought my passport and stamped by customs. I was seated and wait till they call the category of people. I came up to the gate and send my baggage, then pass the entrance of the gate. 

  when I entered, there were lots of military people and their families who was waiting for PCS to Korea. Majority of people there were army military or their families. I waited again and finally I could get of the airplane. After landing, flight attendant shortly served lunch which was ham sandwich or turkey sandwich. I chose ham one. oreo and small bag of ruffle were in the lunch box with ham sandwich. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to come to osan. Roll call in Misawa was 1115 but landing was 13 something. I arrived in Osan around 1520.

American Day

Today was American Day. There was people live in misawa and more from other city around here. It looked great that they block the whole road toward city hall. We could see many Japanese people's outfits. We could tell flower printed pants is popular here. 

Mario!

Group Exercise class - Yoga & Spin at Fitness

  I was so surprised how many good group workout classes are here in misawa. I'd like to talk about the classes that I've taken so far and my impression about those classes.

The schedule is available at http://35fss.com/fitness.html  

Kickboxing FIP
  I expected this class to be more like real kickboxing. I thought I could be able to learn some skills with tone up my body. the class was more like zumba with lots of kicks. This class is great if someone is a fan of zumba and like dancing with music.

Yoga Sculpt
 This is little bit modified version of yoga. participants need to bring weights that he/she can handle and the class is combined with half time of yoga and halt time to weight lifting. I brought 2 sets of same weights and little heavier weight. It worked out perfectly. I would like to go back to the class and start to go regularly.

Cardio & ABS FIP
  I haven't gone to this class yet. the maintenance person at fitness said  this class is aerobic for half and hour and half an hour for ABS workout with music.

Indoor Cycling / Instructor: Adele / Katy
  Great spin class. 50 minutes of cycling with music. instructors are amazing. I bring 2 bottles of water and towel to swipe the sweat. I found there are usually 15 or less people at the cycling room.

Power Yoga
  This yoga class engages more of stretching. It's great yoga class because I need to stretch my hamstring especially for better performance of running, walking, or cycling. This class usually pretty peaked with people. instructor will be gone after this summer because of her PCSing. I wish she stayed with us but well this is military life. I hope there will be same structured class for future.

NAF sale

Today morning, I got a message from my husband about NAF sale. I've heard about it few times through 35FSS facebook. I haven't planed on going there, I was going to go to yoga instead. I heard they have reduced price for snowboard and boots. So I decided to go, I packed my workout clothes just because to drop by the gym after sale.

I got snowboard for $5 and boots for $5. It was successful and very fun to see the items! Japaneses workers were very helpful finding right size and right number for the items. I wouldn't get this great customer service at another place. :)

Article about NAF sale

http://www.21fss.com/about/naf-finance/naf-sales/

Trip to Shimodamall

To get to shimoda mall

Go straight out from POL gate untill you see Universe on the left side. Turn left at Universe and keep going.

Turn left here

Keep going straight until you see ESSO gas station on the left side, turn Right at the signal

Keep going straight this farm road about 10 minutes.

When you get to this point, you will see the gambling place on the left side. At the signal, Turn right.

 you will see this place on the left and the sign for shimoda mall is displayed on the signal.

Now here is shimoda mall. Turn left at the second road when you turn right at the signal. follow the pink sign saying AEON. the handicap sign on the parking sign means "drive slow for handicap persons"

Base beach - Misawa AFB

Since we're living on north area of housing. we can see this nice beach & recreation area on jogging track. this is right around the corner of housing area. the sand is not like super fine one in san diego. That's why people are not walking on the beach. walkers need to watch out for broken glasses or seashells hanging on the ground. I wore flip flop and that was not very nice experience when the sand got into my feet. Anyways, Jet Ski is popular here! I saw there's a class for Jet Ski certification here for free but I don't know If the certificate is required to ride it.